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Omerta: City of Gangsters

Omerta: City of Gangsters

The makers of Tropico 4 are working on a new game, bringing us closer to the invasion of the Mafia onto America, in a mixture of city sim and turn-based tactical shooter.

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America, the land of opportunity in the twenties. We are an insignificant immigrant who tries his luck in Atlantic City. It's the time of prohibition, a time when crime flourishes.

We are just trying to just find a job and work, but due to poor circumstances, the honest way's denied to us. Because we kill somebody. There is no return. Our path leads to the underworld. Our brother also finds his way from Europe to America - but into a police uniform. We now work against each other.

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Omerta: City of Gangsters is a mix of business simulation and strategy development in the mafia-style. We gradually take over every aspect of the city. For example: we have a distillery in which to brew beer, then sell this on to our own pubs. The production and sale of alcohol was prohibited and therefore a wonderful business for organized crime. We earn dirty money and try to whitewash it again through various activities and increase our influence in the city.

But when it comes to disputes with trading partners, the police or rivals, then the game switches to a turn-based combat. Turn by turn we move our gangsters across the field, like Jagged Alliance: Back in Action or Xcom: Enemy Unknown. We are looking for tactically clever covers, select actions and hope that we have more luck with close and ranged combat than our opponents. There are, for example, machine guns that shoot wildly, scaring as much as hitting. Or firebombs for long-range strikes. Bats for up close swings, and there's traditional melee attacks as well.

The combat maps are split between exteriors, big open spaces, and interiors. Both require their own strategies, and success hinges on our team and equipment. All characters have different strengths and talents that can be expanded with experience. Stats like skill, strength, courage and cunning.

In this game, levels increase for all members, not just those chosen for missions, but if we want to increase the crew, we need to hire gangsters. The number of possible members increases to a impressive fifteen.

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Omerta: City of Gangsters

We soon find out what the developers mean when they talk about the faster peace to the combat. We select a maximum of four characters - in certain missions some are blocked in a slot already. Opponents don't hide, but search constantly and attack. Fights are over quickly, five to ten minutes usually.

We also cannot save during the clashes. It's a pretty likeable decision. However your gangsters don't die if they're downed. A stint in jail, or a short-term injury with stat-weaknesses is about as bleak as it gets for the killers.

And a gangster in prison is at least as bad as a dead gangster. From that situation, he must either be released in a mission or we have to ask a fellow celebrity for help - a one-time favour (as we know of Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather). You could also flee from battles, but you can expect negative consequences.

These battles can played out automatically. The better the team, the greater the chance that we are successful. While it is always wiser to operate independently, if you prefer to sink time into the economic simulation you will be delighted with this option. And somehow we are left with the feeling that the business simulation is the core of Omerta: City of Gangsters.

There are twenty districts in Atlantic City, which we all see in the solo campaign. they are relatively true to original images from the era. Each building we can interact with, and even if there is only one residential building, we can buy it in order to collect rent. Later we can operate casinos and hospitals. Each building has two levels to make it more effective. Some of the buildings also help us indirectly, such as the soup kitchen, so we start to win over citizens.

Omerta: City of Gangsters

The police should also be kept in mind. A heat meter increases with each illegal action. Clashes with the police can be difficult and should be avoided altogether. We do not always have someone to do us a favor. And we can not always blame someone else. It is true that the police can be bribed, but that can prove a great expense.

The developers promise a twenty-hour campaign, which is arguably the heart of the game. Perhaps it is still a problem of the game's balancing, but without concrete missions the optional sandbox mode is less exciting. Districts are captured too fast, and after an hour or two you've seen everything. In Tropico you could still continue building and tinker happily: here everything is predetermined.

In addition, there's also a multiplayer mode planned for competitive or co-operative play.

There's a team deathmatch mode, but there should also be a variant in which two teams play against each other to get money to safety the quickest. Or we rob a bank together and liberate accomplices from the jail. We'll have to wait to a later hands-on session to try the multiplayer.

Omerta: City of Gangsters is built on the Tropico 4 engine. We can zoom into the action, there are day and night cycles and weather effects. The streets seem to be alive (the developer points out that when it rains, pedestrians flip open umbrellas) but we want a little more authenticity - for example police vehicles and random gun fights.

An economic simulation with mafia structures is a very cool idea. And with prohibition as a background it strikes exactly the right note. The tactical battles are nice and add variety to the game. Even the graphics are fine, though nothing extraordinary. We should pray that the music will be more diverse. And even if the sandbox mode still seems a little bland, and the multiplayer mode sounds vague, the story mode offers enough content to make us looking forward to the release of Omerta: City of Gangsters.

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Omerta: City of GangstersScore

Omerta: City of Gangsters

REVIEW. Written by Sara Blake

"Like a bad batch of bootlegged booze, Omerta: City Of Gangsters really feels like it needed a little more time to brew."

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Omerta: City of Gangsters

Omerta: City of Gangsters

PREVIEW. Written by Martin Eiser

"It's city sim and turn-based combat tussles as we try and take over every aspect of prohibition-era Atlantic City."



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